Drawer assemblies incorporating a drawer received for sliding movement in a supporting bezel are well known in the art. Such drawer assemblies are commonly employed in motor vehicles as a convenient and effective way to store small items at convenient locations within the interior of the motor vehicle.
A typical drawer assembly comprises a drawer including opposed rails or runners that are received for sliding movement within cooperating opposed guide tracks or channels provided in the bezel. Drawer assemblies made from plastic are relatively inexpensive to produce. However, molded plastic drawer assemblies are typically subject to manufacturing tolerances that adversely affects the sliding action of the drawer with respect to the bezel and too much clearance allowing for vibration and rattling of the drawer in the bezel.
In order to address these concerns, metal parts with closer manufacturing tolerances have been used on drawer assemblies. While drawer assemblies incorporating metal parts do provide a high quality sliding action and do restrict or eliminate vibration and rattling, such parts complicate manufacture and assembly and increase costs.
This document relates to a new and improved drawer assembly made from plastic materials wherein the bezel incorporates an integral drawer centering device to (1) properly align the drawer in the bezel for smooth sliding action as well as (2) reduce or eliminate vibration and rattling. Advantageously, the reduction in the overall number of parts for the drawer assembly and the elimination of the need to utilize metal parts to achieve the desired results substantially reduces the manufacturing costs while meeting customer expectations. As such, the drawer assembly described herein represents a significant advance in the art.